This Month

This Month June 2018 - Thursday, 31 May 2018

I had not heard a cuckoo for about three years and so whilst working in the kitchen garden on 21st May I was pleased to hear a faint cuckoo. I listened a while in the hope to hear it again and ensure I hadn’t imagined it and I soon hear a few more distinct cuckoo’s and saw a bird fly over.

We were very pleased to get some rain in late May, although it was a lot of rain in one weekend, we had what seemed at the time quite a lot earlier in the year the spell of dry saw the ground cracked a lot which may be the cause of the leak in the lake, now called a seasonal pool. The powers that be are finally saying there are increasing risks of water shortages, something we have been saying for years, it is what comes with increase in the population, over extraction and waste. People are so far removed from the natural earth that they do not realise how much we rely on the health of the environment. I am ashamed to say that not all gardeners are as caring of the earth as they should be, I never could work out why people want to put chemicals on the land or have a barren monoculture lawn. It is much nicer and wildlife friendly to have long grass filled with bulbs and flowers, it is worth it for the butterflies and frogs as well as numerous other animal and insect species which live in it, a bonus is that the only work it needs is cutting just once a year. A friend works in a garden where the owner uses chemicals, the ground is solid with no worms which, for us, help to keep good quality soil.

The colour in the garden is great, I did notice a tree Paeony of orange and one of yellow and orange, I do not recall getting those colours but they do look good. The Crinodendron is covered in buds, soon to be open to red lanterns.

We have, of course been putting in new plants throughout the garden, our latest acquisition is Calycanthus Venus, originally from North America it has aromatic leaves and bark. Venus has white flowers with red markings, I have planted it near Calycanthus Hartlage Wine which has maroon flowers with white markings. I was pleased to see the Laburnocytisus come through the winter well and be a mass of pink flowers. The Fuschias are finally leafing up, they were the plants which seemed to struggle most from the winter weather, some I just pruned a little whilst others I chopped off completely but happily they are all now growing. A few of the herbaceous perennials did not survive however I have been potting on many little seedlings which I obtained at the Bromyard Seed Swap in January, I must remember to save seeds for the swap next year. The garden remains open by prior arrangement (including same day arrangement) as due to other commitments we are unable to open all the time and days may vary.